Record ban effectively ends career for Puerta

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TENNIS officials, hugely embarrassed by a spate of recent doping scandals, banned Mariano Puerta for eight years yesterday for failing a drugs test carried out after he lost the men’s singles final in the French Open in June.

It is the longest suspension handed to an elite player and effectively ends the career of the Argentinian, who has also been ordered to return £285,000 in prize-money. It was his second offence after a nine-month ban in 2003, having testing positive for clenbuterol, an anabolic agent.

The suspension imposed on Puerta for taking the prohibited stimulant etilefrine in Paris emphasises the